I track people who are disrupting the world of mobile technology. Non-conformists, innovators and agitators are this blog's unsung heroes, from entrepreneurs to scientists, to rebellious hackers. I'm the author of "We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous and the Global Cyber Insurgency", (Little Brown, 2012) which The New York Times called a "lively, startling book that reads as 'The Social Network' for group hackers." I recently relocated to Forbes' San Francisco office, and was previously Forbes' London bureau chief from 2008-12, interviewing British billionaires like Philip Green and controversial figures like Mohammed Al Fayed; I wrote last year's billionaires cover story on Russia's Yuri Milner, and have broken stories like the Facebook-Spotify partnership in 2011. Before all this I had stints at the BBC and as a radio journalist. You can watch me on 'The Daily Show' here. If you have a story idea or tip, e-mail me at polson@forbes.com or follow me on Twitter: parmy.

Live Blog: BlackBerry 10 Launch

The moment has arrived. Executives from Research in Motion have gathered for a six-city, simultaneous launch of BlackBerry 10, a mobile operating system that will power a new series of phones (and who knows what else). In one hour we’ll hear about the all-new BlackBerry 10 platfor, and two new phones, rumored to be called the Z10 and X10. Here in New York, hundreds of analysts, journalists and industry observers are bustling around the blue-tinted environs of Pier 36 in the Lower East Side for the launch which starts at 10am EST (7am Pacific).

Some are skeptical about today’s launch. RIM’s global market share is down to roughly 6% from a peak of 20% just three years ago; its shares are down 80% in the same period. This is a story of how quickly even dominant players in the new world of telecoms can fall behind if they stall in development: take a breath and you’re king of the industry; let it out and someone’s just overtaken you. In RIM’s case, iPhones and Android phones became the devices everyone wanted for both work and play, crimping RIM’s marketshare after a peak in 2009. A trickier-than-expected transition from RIM’s purchase of QNX in 2010 didn’t help matters. QNX technology will now power BB10.

Today is widely seen as the company’s last shot at relevance, a cliched Hail Mary Pass. It has laid off thousands of employees to save $1 billion in costs, but today RIM is pulling out the stops with a big launch venue. Stay tuned…

9.37 am EST: The main hall has opened for press, with Hot Chip thumping through the speakers. And some nice news for RIM’s shares: they’re currently up 4.2% after a two-day decline.

Piers Morgan likes the new BB10

9.46am EST: The rest of the launch attendees are filling up the main hall – it’s getting loud and busy. Not long now.

Full house for the BB10 launch.

10:06 am EST: Our MC has taken to the stage and we’re starting with video link-ups with the five other launch events around the world: London, Dubai, Toronto Paris and Johannesburg. The crowd in Toronto looks especially excited.

10:13 am EST: We’re seeing a couple of videos from industry and die-hard consumer fans of the BlackBerry. If you’re interested, you can watch them here. And here is a guy who has been growing his hair until the launch of BlackBerry 10 – a stage hand has just snipped off his pony tail in front of the cheering audience. That was cute.

10:14 am EST: And now, RIM’s chief executive, Thorsten Heins has taken to the stage. Looking relaxed in a grey suit with no tie. It’s been almost one year exactly since I was handed the reins of Research in Motion and it has easily bee the most challenging year of my career to date… but also the most exhilarating and rewarding.”

10:20 am EST: Heins: “We will soon give you more ways to connect your mobile experience to the world around you… We will be a leader in connecting you to your Internet of Things.” This is what RIM means when they talk about BlackBerry 10 being for hyper-connected consumers.

CEO of BlackBerry (formerly RIM) Thorsten Heins

10:23 am EST: Heins says RIM had to make the tough decision to “go it alone” with its own software platform. He is publicly thanking RIM’s engineers and carrier partners.

10.27 am EST: Transitioning to RIM’s new phase it took heartfelt and brutal honesty with ourselves. We have transformed ourselves inside and out. Some big news: Research in Motion has rebranded itself as just BlackBerry. Now “Apple” isn’t the only fruit-theme tech moniker on the block. “ It all starts today with our renaming and our global launch of BlackBerry 10,” says Heins.

10.28 am EST: And here are the two new phones: the touchscreen Z10 and the Q10, a phone with a physical keyboard. The phones boast 1080p video recording. “Aren’t they beautiful?” asks Heins. (The rumors were almost right. Reports initially called them the Z10 and “X10″)

10:31 am EST: The devices have a “glass-weave” cover. Now Vivek Bhardwaj, head of BlackBerry’s software portfolio takes to the stage to demonstrate BlackBerry 10. The backdrop already refers to Bhardwaj’s employer as “BlackBerry.” He’s demonstrating BlackBerry Flow, and seamless transitions between apps like YouTube and the phone’s Hub.

10:33 am EST: Bhardwaj demonstrates watching a movie on the phone – the famous red LED on all BlackBerry phone flashes to indicate an email. He swipes the film slightly to the right to “peek” into the Hub and see what the email is. “We’ve move from content, straight into BlackBerry Hub.” RIM’s big idea is that checking notifications should not be disruptive, but seamless. Swipe down slightly and you can peek into your calendar to see what appointments you have coming up.

10:41 am EST: Bhardwaj shows off the predictive keyboard on the Z10, uses language algorithms to learn what sort of words its users tend to use over time. Unusually, predicted words appear *within* the keyboard – they’re small, but readable. Once you see a word you want to use, flick up to select it. There’s also “multi-language support,” meaning if you type “je” or “I” in French, the predictions suddenly go en Frances.

10:43 am EST: Now we’re looking at BlackBerry Balance, which separates work and personal apps on the phone as two different profiles. “Both applications co-exist, work and personal” says Bhardwaj. Heins adds that it’s a great solution for the CIO, because he can control the work aspect of the device, and the user, who can control the personal.

10:45 am EST: Heins says he has some exciting news about BlackBerry Messenger: it now has video calling capabilities. Bjardwaj does a video calling demo to Andrew in London, whose face we see pop up on the screen. In the middle of the call, they can sync screens in a feature called “screen share” to show images and screenshots.

10:50 am EST: We’re seeing some nifty tools for remembering appointments and tasks, part of a feature called BlackBerry Remember.

10:52 am EST: Now fror a demonstration of the Z10 camera. Bhardwaj takes a photo of Heins on stage. “What stands out is creating that perfect shot,” he says, focusing on Heins’ face. BlackBerry Timeshift, allowing you to take several photos in a row and zooming in to choose the best facial expression. There are Instagram-like filters for photo editing.

10:55 am EST: We’re talking about vacations – I’m sure both these guys could use one – and a feature called BlackBerry Story Maker. This appears to be an app that creates slide shows with transitions, effects, title and credit screens, from photos and videos in an album. Heins thanks Bhardwaj, who leaves the stage.

- And now Martyn Mallick, vice president of global alliances and business development, takes to the stage. “We are launching BlackBerry 10 with more apps than any first-generation operating system,” says Mallick. BB10 has more than 70,000 applications available. Among the committed developers: Skype, WhatsApp, Amazon Kindle, SAP, Rovio (Angry Birds). We have over 1,000 top applications from around the world committed to BlackBerry 10.

11.00am EST – Among the gaming partners: Electronic Arts and GameLoft. For Music: “all the major record labels and the independents.” No mention yet of Spotify, Netflix or Hulu.

11.07am EST - Now for timing: ”By end of February we’ll be completing testing with 110 carriers globally.” (That’s lower than then 150 carriers we’d heard about before. In the U.S., carrier partners AT&T, Verizon and Sprint and T-Mobile will announce pricing and availability today. We expect availablity for Z10 to be in March. In Canada it will be available on Feb 10. It will retail for $199 on a three-year contract. in the UK z10 will be available tomorrow from Everything Everywhere, O2, Vodafone, BT and Carphone Warehouse.

11.10am EST – BlackBerry is announcing a “global creative director” position – sounds like it will be a celebrity. Yep, it’s Alicia Keys. Wearing a black velvet blazer, she has taken to the stage to describe what she likes about the new platform, and describes BlackBerry as an ex-boyfriend. Not a bad analogy – a lot of smartphone started with a BlackBerry before switching to an iPhone or Android phone. She had once been an avid user, then “we broke up” and she went for more bling. “I was playing the field.” Now we’re “back together.”

11.15 am EST: So what is Keys going to do? “I’m going to work closely with the app designers, the carriers, to explore this BB10 platform,” she says. “I’m definitely going to start with other super women who also love BlackBerry, and work with people in the entertainment and music business to inspire creative projects. And I want to enhance this concept, or bridging the gap between the work phone and the play phone. I’m extremely excited to work with you and your team.”

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